Question

You know how its possible to add a web app to the home screen of an iPhone… well now how do i detect if my app has been added to the home screen of a user’s iPhone.

And if it has been added, how do i launch the app stored on the user’s home screen rather than in Safari.


NOTE : its a web app simply bookmarked on the home screen of an iPhone - it is NOT a native app.


Any Ideas ?

Answer 1

According to Safari Web Content Guide, you have to set <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" /> in your webpage to present your content in full-screen mode.

You can also set a startup image to make it look like a native app by setting <link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" href="/startup.png">

Edit (Detect if run in full-screen mode)

You can add some JS-Code to your webpage to detect if it is run in full-screen mode:

<script type="text/javascript">
if ('standalone' in navigator && !navigator.standalone && (/iphone|ipod|ipad/gi).test(navigator.platform) && (/Safari/i).test(navigator.appVersion)) {
    __do something here__
}

For more information on this, this project could be of interest.